Thread: Announcement
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Old 02-24-2020, 06:43 AM
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jettrucker
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Joined APC: Jan 2008
Posts: 4
Default Announcement

TO: All Trans States Airlines Employees
CC: Trans States Holdings
FROM: Rick Leach
DATE: February 24, 2020
RE: Trans States Update
In recent years, the regional aviation landscape has changed dramatically and continues to do so. Our industry has never been more competitive and the margins for success at the regional level are razor thin. Major airlines are also searching for cost efficiencies within their regional portfolios and have taken numerous stepsto streamline productivity. In the past year alone, we’ve seen major airlines move aircraft between regional partners to simplify and create critical mass among their fleet types, shift aircraft from one partner to another to reduce geographic overlap among regional carriers and take steps to concentrate flying.

While we believe the Embraer 145 will be the most sustainable traditional 50-seater in the marketplace, in the medium to long term, the traditional 50-seat segment (CRJ200 and EMB145) has had some of the more significant market pressures among regional aircraft. With the tight pilot resource environment, coupled with increased unit cost due to reduced productivity and general cost increases on most line items, the last 18 months have proven to be tough for Trans States Airlines. Last year was an exceptionally challenging financial year, and early indications point to 2020 continuing down the same path. At a time when we need to fly each of our airframes to their fullest potential, we are facing a Captain shortage that will result in an inability to meet our increased productivity objectives and even our current contractual flying obligations. The imbalance between Captains and First Officers is so extreme that earlier this month, the company took the unprecedented action of canceling a First Officer class already in session, while delaying others. Reducing our flying or operating a smaller fleet only makes the economic equation more challenging.
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